Q 01/05

In which New York borough was Mae West born on 17 August 1893?

A) Brooklyn

B) Queens

C) Manhattan

D) The Bronx

Answer · why

A) Brooklyn

It was either Greenpoint or Bushwick, before the consolidation of New York City; her family later lived in Woodhaven, Queens, too.

Q 02/05

What was Mae West's real first and middle name?

A) Mary Jane

B) Margaret Jean

C) Maria Johanna

D) Mabel Josephine

Answer · why

A) Mary Jane

Her father, 'Battlin' Jack' West, later ran a private investigation agency.

Q 03/05

What was Mae West's father 'Battlin' Jack' West's occupation before he became a special policeman?

A) Prizefighter

B) Blacksmith

C) Sailor

D) Bartender

Answer · why

A) Prizefighter

Her mother Tillie, a Bavarian immigrant, was a corset and fashion model.

Q 04/05

Under what stage name did Mae West perform as a child?

A) Sugar Mae

B) Little Mae

C) Baby Mae

D) Miss Mayme

Answer · why

C) Baby Mae

She started professionally in vaudeville with the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907, aged 14, and even tried working as a male impersonator.

Q 05/05

Mae West made her Broadway debut in 1911 in A La Broadway, staged by which former dancing teacher of hers?

A) George M. Cohan

B) Florenz Ziegfeld

C) Ned Wayburn

D) Busby Berkeley

Answer · why

C) Ned Wayburn

It closed after eight performances, but the New York Times praised the 'hitherto unknown' girl's grotesquerie and snappy singing.